The Mummy 1932
I bought a box set of six of the classic Universal monster movies and have been slowly working my way through them. The Mummy is the third in the series, with Boris Karloff as the mummy, Imhotep. I remember watching an old mummy movie as a kid and thinking it was silly, but it gave my younger brother nightmares for years. I don’t think this is that movie. This movie is more about the paranormal than about a menacing monster chasing after people and going on a killing spree. This mummy is still sinister and powerful, but he is after love, in particular a princess who died during his time and has been reincarnated over and over until today, played by the beautiful Zita Johann, who looks great in some pre-code 1930’s fashions. There is also a lot of exposition to explain what is going on, so there are many scenes of men explaining things in various parlors and museums. Still, Karloff really owns his reincarnated mummy character, just as Bela Lugosi did in Dracula. The magic at work seems a little inconsistent, but the ancient Egyptian lore provides some rich background that is still being mined today. Other than a few scenes of Karloff, the movie was completely unfamiliar and a little underwhelming since a rag-covered mummy only appears in the first few minutes.
Written: 10 Oct 2022
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital